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Mark Strong says Dr Sivana not back for Shazam! sequel

May 20th, 2021 by Marc Comments

With Shazam! Fury of the Gods set to begin this week and all the Marvel family returning along with newcomers Lucy Liu and Helen Mirren as the villains, we’ve been wondering if Mark Strong’s Dr Sivana, the villain from the first movie, will be stepping up too.

The character was seen imprisoned and ready for revenge at the end of the first movie alongside one of DC’s weirdest villains, a worm called Mr Mind, so we assumed he’d be returning in some capacity… but it seems not.

I a new interview, the actor was asked if he was getting ready to start filming on the sequel, but his response shot down any hopes of that happening this time around.

“I literally spoke to the producer last night, because I saw that Zach Levi tweeted that they’re about to start shooting in Atlanta,” the star said.

“Dr Sivana isn’t in Shazam! 2. What’s happened is, I think Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu and perhaps someone else – they’ve got some female villains in. And to be honest with you, I’m very happy to take a back seat to some female villains and let them have a go, because judging by the work that Emma Thompson and Emma Stone have done in Cruella, it’s about time.”

We know that Mirren and Liu will play the villainous goddesses Hespera and Kalypso in the movie, but Strong is pretty sure he’ll be back at some stage: “He’s still got unfinished business with Mister Mind,” he says.

It’s likely there’ll be more Shazam! movies in the future as they are one of the more cost-effective movies in the franchise and, on top of that, we’re getting ready to see Dwayne Johnson stepping up as Black Adam, which is filming now, so there’s going to be plenty of time for Sivana to return to the DCEU.

Thoughts?

Shazam: Fury of the Gods opens in theaters on June 2nd, 2023

We all have a superhero inside us, it just takes a bit of magic to bring it out.  In Billy Batson’s (Angel) case, by shouting out one word—SHAZAM!—this streetwise 14-year-old foster kid can turn into the adult Super Hero Shazam (Levi), courtesy of an ancient wizard.  Still a kid at heart—inside a ripped, godlike body—Shazam revels in this adult version of himself by doing what any teen would do with superpowers: have fun with them!  Can he fly?  Does he have X-ray vision?  Can he shoot lightning out of his hands?  Can he skip his social studies test?  Shazam sets out to test the limits of his abilities with the joyful recklessness of a child.  But he’ll need to master these powers quickly in order to fight the deadly forces of evil controlled by Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Strong).

“Shazam!” also stars Jack Dylan Grazer (“IT”) as Billy’s best friend and ultimate superhero enthusiast, Freddy, part of the foster family that includes Mary, played by Grace Fulton (“Annabelle: Creation”); Darla, played by Faithe Herman (TV’s “This is Us”); Eugene, played by Ian Chen (TV’s “Fresh Off the Boat”); and Pedro, played by Jovan Armand (TV’s “Hawaii Five-O”).  Cooper Andrews (TV’s “The Walking Dead”) and Marta Milans (TV’s “Killer Women”) play foster parents Victor and Rosa Vasquez, with Ron Cephas Jones (“This is Us”) as the Wizard.

Christopher Godsick, Jeffrey Chernov, Dwayne Johnson, Dany Garcia and Hiram Garcia are serving as executive producers.

Sandberg’s creative team includes his “Annabelle: Creation” director of photography Maxime Alexandre, production designer Jennifer Spence, editor Michel Aller and costume designer Leah Butler.

Set primarily in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, principal photography for the film is taking place in Toronto.

Firmly set in the DC universe but with his own distinctly fun, family-centric tone, the character first appeared in Whiz Comics in 1940 and was created by Bill Parker and C.C. Beck.

Source: Den of Geek

Marc is a self-confessed nerd. Ever since seeing Star Wars for the first time around 1979 he’s been an unapologetic fan of the Wars and still believes, with Clone Wars and now Underworld, we are yet to see the best Star Wars. He’s a dad of two who now doesn’t have the time (or money) to collect the amount of toys, comics, movies and books he once did, much to the relief of his long-suffering wife. In the real world he’s a graphic designer. He started Following the Nerd because he was tired of searching a million sites every day for all the best news that he loves and decided to create one place where you can go to get the whole lot. Secretly he longs to be sitting in the cockpit of his YT-1300 Corellian Transport ship with his co-pilot Chewie, roaming the universe, waiting for his next big adventure, but feels just at home watching cartoons with his kids….